1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a receiving set capable of recording the received sound of a radio set or the like and reproducing the recorded sound at an optional time.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Sometimes the listener fails inadvertently to hear important information in listening to the news on the radio. Particularly the listener often fails to hear information in listening in to the information on the radio while the listener is driving an automobile or the like.
Recording the received information on an endless recording tape is a simple method to solve such problem. However, this method is capable of reproducing the portion of the broadcast which could not be heard, whereas the same is incapable of enabling the listener to listen in to the present broadcast.
The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a receiving set capable of repeating the radio broadcast or the like which the listener failed to hear and capable of storing the radio broadcast during the reproduction of the previous radio broadcast.
A receiving set according to the present invention comprises: a record circuit to convert a received and detected audio signal into a signal suitable for recording; signal compressing means to compress the output signal of the record circuit on a time axis; a memory to store the output signal of the signal compressing means; a reproducing circuit to reproduce the contents of the memory; a switch for selectively providing the received and detected audio signal or the output audio signal of the reproducing circuit; reproduction request detecting means to detect whether or not a reproduction request is given; state switching control means to establish a reception-record state in which the switch is controlled so as to provide the received and detected signal, when the reproduction request is not given, and to establish a reception-record-reproduction state in which the switch is controlled so as to provide the output audio signal of the reproducing circuit and the received and detected sound signal is compressed and stored in the memory during the reproducing operation, when the reproduction request is given; and state reset control means to reset the state switching control means in the reception-record state upon the coincidence of the received and detected audio signal and the output audio signal of the reproducing circuit in the reception-record-reproduction state.
According to the present invention, the reproduction request detecting means detects whether or not the reproduction request is given, the state switching control means establishes the reception-record state in which the switch, the record circuit and the signal compressing means are controlled so as to provide the received and detected audio signal as an output signal of the receiving set and to compress and store the received and detected signal in the memory when the reproduction request is not given, and establishes the reception-record-reproduction state in which the reproducing circuit and the switch are controlled so as to reproduce the contents of the memory, to provide the reproduced signal as the output signal of the receiving set and to compress the received and detected audio signal and store the compressed sound signal in the memory during reproducing operation, and the state reset control means resets the receiving set in the record-reproduction state upon the coincidence of the received and detected audio signal and the output audio signal of the reproducing circuit in the reception-record-reproduction state.